DELTAVIT - MORTALITY DIAGNOSTIC OF PIGLETS STILL BIRTH (2005) - 2 stars
VETERINARY DIAGNOSIS
The tool 'Deltavit diagnostic of piglets stillbirth' results from the fact that the analysis of some dead piglets is more often disappointing and insufficient.
This tool is destinated to breedings with high mortality rate (more than 18% of total birth) in two days following farrowing.
The objective is to identify real causes of piglets mortality and to organize them into a hierarchy in function of their
frequency, in the purpose to have a personal action plan per breedings. The breeder collect dead piglets at birth and during the first two days, on 20 farrowings. Deltavit laboratory gives him a sampling kit which contain: a notice, a registration form, sterile bags, piglets conservation equipment. Once they moved to the laboratory, all the piglets are the subject of a necropsy and a
diagnostic. They are classified in ten categories, depending of the characteristics of the lesions observed.
To each category correspond a specific ameliorating action which can be recommended: stillbirth and mummies
(preparturient and parturient death), acute disease, overlay (primary), deshydratation / enteritis, wasting, small weak piglets, savaging, deformities, arthropathy / abscess, anaemia, splayleg. Principal causes of mortality revealed, a complete audit report integrating recommendations is sent to the breeder.
So he can make use of actions which will permit him to reduce his piglets looses.
Award-winner's testimony: Since its Innov'Space prize in 2005, thediagnosis of piglets stillbirthhas involved more than 13,000 autopsies carried out in 230 farms. The results enabled identifying the main causes of stillbirth in each farm in comparison with the laboratory's statistics on the 15 causes listed, on a time scale covering gestation and peripartum.
In collaboration with the University of Newcastle within the framework of the European project Prohealth, the use of these data made it possible to determine 3 categories of farms with high stillbirth rates. In the first category, crushing and wasting disease dominate, with an increased incidence of septicaemia and enteritis. In the second category, asphyxia during parturition and in utero infections are associated. And in the 3rd category, an excessive proportion of non-viable piglets (weight < 800g) and a high prolificity in the summer season are observed.
Thanks to this tool, farmers, with the support of their veterinarian or technician, have been able to target effectively preventive measures to improve the viability of newborn piglets.